Muddy Trail Morning, Sunset on the Beach

Tried a new trail -- nature saw the opportunity to claim her territory as she wanted. Several very muddy parts that I could  navigate on the way up, but chose a different route back down. Wonder if the engineers will figure out how to resolve the waster issue -- is a hill, so, realize there is only so much that can be done with the flow and shade areas. 

Later that day, and unexpected adventure to the Headlands...cloudy, but still pretty. Bunkers and the beach. 

 

Gingers 2024

                  

A long tradition with the kids. Know they are humoring at this point, but grateful for their grace. 

 

Ceramic and fabric - remake of a photograph

Made ceramic and fabric piece from a photograph of a street scene in Mysore. I had visited there years ago, on the way to the wedding of a friend. I was in the shop right next to the picture below, selecting the fabric for the under pieces for the sari I ended up wearing to one of the ceremonies. The man in the yellow shirt was my driver for this section of the trip -- he was wonderful -- guiding without directing, protecting without stifling. Such an absolutely fantastic trip that was --wish everyone could have that experience. 

The picture above is a bit off, as I was removing the background of the photo -- and didn't do it perfectly. 

 

Holiday crafts "work baskets" for Santa by Sea party

 

Santa by Sea party.  Put together materials for some holiday crafts for the kids (and the adults should they be inclined!). 

Crawdad, Crayfish, Crawfish

Two crawdads on my walk. Hadn't seen them outside the lake before, but it had rained a lot, and is my understand that changes the water chemistry enough that they might search for a new place. Not much in terms of bodies of water around for them other than this lake, so they likely ended up back in it. Hopefully that arm reach protected them from being food for the day. 

 

Found along the Trail

A different walk than the barn one, but similar views.  Not only my smile upon seeing it (albeit artificial element (not my smile) in natural setting), but also my smile on not seeing the object on the way back -- only two men walking by singularly ...one in his 70+s and one in his 30s..passed it. Kind of glad they were motivated to pick it up. 

 

Henna on my Hand

 

Going through some old photos. Saw this one from a trip to Morocco. Marrakesh here, my hand having henna applied. The closest to a tattoo for me. :) 

Barn Contents

Barn by the trail by the water...looked a bit beat up, but they had taken care to close it up. Except for the space between the padlocked door where a hand could fit with a phone....and image what was in that dark barn. All neat and tidy. 

Beautiful walk as well...on marsh connected to bay, hills in the distance all in view in clear sky.

Building a city -- part of it -- ceramics

In process of using a photograph I took for inspiration of a scene on a street in Mysore.  I had been there long ago, on my way to a wedding of a friend. More when I complete the project.  

Clay, hand built. 

 

Skink! Quite a blue tail

 

I planned on moving a piece of marble outside, but this skink allowed me to leave it alone. The skink had been under the marble slab as I picked it up, and "he" wasn't moving. He then moved to under the edge of the marble that I had resting on the ground. Didn't want to hurt it, so held it for a bit more until skink went away a bit, but by that time, rethought the heavy lift, and decided to wait for a friend. :) 

Production Pottery -- kind of! :)

Made these last week .. fast! For fundraising event. Nice group of people surrounding, fun times. 

 

From a documentary - ceramics and plexiglass

 

I won't put the full interpretation here, in part because I don't want to oversimply the documentary I recently saw. Natural resources, relationships on several levels. Was an assignment about relationships....not necessarily the human kind. The clip is intentional, as the story can change with a different environment in the background. 

Building a Plexiglass Box

Very nice man at the plastic store taught me how to stick plexiglass together, and gave me his demonstration to me to use as a right angle. Weld-on used to melt the plastic so it sticks together. Using this as part of a sculpture, so waiting to see if I will add the final piece to make it a six sided box, or leave it as is. The Weld-on is a "drippy" liquid, so will take some practice to get no smudges, but, so far, not too bad. The picture above is sitting on a drop cloth, that isn't a smudge line at bottom! And it is the clouds and blue sky above in reflection. :) 

  

    

Silk Scarf Dresses -- V and deep necks

 

Three more dresses made from silk scarves.  This set was focused on plunge necks, though only the one below is super deep. May tack it, depending on what wearer may want. The one below is more avant garde -- sleeves super long, lots of flow in part of size of scarf and perhaps weight differences. 

Landslide

Might be hard to get the scale here. That is a small building there.

 

The perfect beach chair, Stair metaphor

Above was my beach chair for lunch. Millions and millions around, but not on this island.  Below stairs had me thinking a metaphor with stairs -- how if your stairway stops/pauses for some reason, you begin building, creating your own steps.  Think I had it more poetic in my mind than writing now.  Maybe it will come to me again (Laughing. Likely better to wait to write this, but I still like how seeing the stairway like that evoked thought in me). 

Last photo --- liked the paint peeling.

 

Seaweed Print, Marine Research Center explore, Blue Angels

Had a long and fun day.  First a walk to a once a month outdoor market, then to a once a year open house at a Marine Research place that is normally closed to the public. Beautiful views, right on the bay. Learned things too. They had lots of interactive activities, quite engaging for kids and adults. Above is a seaweed print I made using their (an artist/author/photographer/designer was the key person) set up and seaweed. Picked the pieces because the lower one reminded me of a salamander, and the upper one like polliwog. 

Fleet week brought air show, and the Blue Angels gave a particularly fantastic performance. So close to each other, so fast. And they kindly flew over us several times.  

Appreciated the amount of dirt by the pocket on the lab coats. Honest dirt is a good thing. 

 

Devil's Coach Horse Beetle

Saw this long beetle on my walk this morning. First "he" was walking fast, with body "long" and flat. Then, he curled up and stood still.  Looked different than "normal" beetles I have seen. Looked it up with image search. Appears to be a Devil's Coach Horse Beetle. What a name! Apparently scorpion like for addressing its food sources. 

 

At the vineyard

Went to vineyard with friend who has an interest in this one -- ripe grapes, though the wine business in region at low point, so no harvesting this year. Another industry that must adapt to a changes in culture, and change marketing and offers to tempt. 

 

Ceramic Sculpture, Inspired by a childhood photograph.

Can be removed easily from stand -- need to make sure has full freedom. The top part does rotate.

Pug clay, no glaze.  Inspired by a photograph of my parents and me when I was a kid...the life given with two cultures blended, freedom to explore thought and the world. 

Prototype below: